


Lively

by MissLit



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Black Mirror AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 11:12:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13739664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissLit/pseuds/MissLit
Summary: After years of resisting marketing, Prompto has finally invested in the new MMO, Lively, a game where you can plug in and do anything you want and be anyone you can dream of. While skeptical at first, he realizes that his weight won't have an effect on how people see him for once and jumps at the chance to take on this new world when he meets a long-time player named Noctis.





	Lively

**Author's Note:**

> This story is heavily inspired by the Netflix series Black Mirror.

“Welcome to Lively,” a sweet, feminine voice said. “Where all your fantasies become reality. Please step to the middle of the square for your tutorial. A comprehensive list of rules is available in your menu.”

Prompto hesitated before stepping away from the door he’d been led through. He glanced behind himself at it to find that it had disappeared, only to be replaced with a sprawling cityscape. Turning to the front again he noticed a blonde woman waiting for him in the square, but no one else. It seemed the people around were giving her a wide berth. 

“C’mon over, Sug, don’t be shy!” the blonde called. It was different than the voice that had greeted him upon bootup; she had a Southern drawl with a bright, friendly demeanor. 

Slowly, Prompto inched closer. 

“Welcome to Lively!” she repeated, waving her arm in a wide arc. “My name is Cindy and I’ll be talkin’ y’all through the tutorial. Now, y’all can see me, but unfortunately I can’t see none of y’all yet. You have to create your avatars!” She giggled, winking. “At the moment we’ve got thirty new users, all of ya standin’ around here with me. Don’t bother sayin’ hi, your voice modules won’t be active until you’ve got a body.”

Prompto looked down at himself, slightly panicked. He could see himself just fine. Protruding belly, heavy legs and arms, greasy hair. It was all the same as always. 

“Do me a favor, y’all, snap your fingers on your left hand, like so.” Cindy performed a flourishing snap and in front of her a menu appeared. “This is how you activate your menu! Go on, give us a snap.”

Taking a deep breath, Prompto snapped his fingers. Just as it had for Cindy, a menu popped up in front of his face. The first thing on the screen was a 3D image of himself from head to toe. He frowned at it, looking from his horn rimmed glasses to his belly hanging over his belt. 

“Now you’ve got it!” Cindy’s excitable voice drew Prompto back in. “Now, you should be seein’ your avatar just now. It’s automatically set to you, the way you look in the real world. If that looks fine, you can select okay and just wait for everyone else.” To Prompto’s surprise, a couple people popped into view. 

Cindy took a head count before shaking her head with a smile. “That’s alright, y’all. The point of Lively is to live how ya want. Let me talk you through changin’ your avatar.”

There were so many menus to look through. Hairstyles, eye colors, face shape. Prompto had fun choosing a gravity-defying hairstyle that he couldn’t dream of creating in real life and opted to take his glasses off. Then, they got to the next section.

“We won’t tell if you don’t,” Cindy said as they got to the Body Type tab. “Y’all really think I’ve got triple D ta-tas?” A couple of the people who’d already selected their avatars laughed. “You can select different body parts to slide through, or change everything at once. Just a little advice? Try and keep it realistic. It’s reeeeally obvious if you’ve got bulging muscles, ya know?” 

Prompto’s heart was pounding. He grabbed the slider and moved his weight only. He could see the pounds coming off his virtual body but stopped just short of looking like he’d never eaten a day in his life. It was amazing. It was almost like he was a different person. For a moment, he felt guilty, but then he saw a couple more people pop into view. Each one of them looked impossibly beautiful with perfect skin and perfect bodies. 

This was a video game, right? So… He could make himself look however he wanted. 

Making up his mind, he okayed his avatar. A few people’s eyes moved to him as he appeared and he offered them a small smile. 

“Looks like that’s everyone. Why don’t y’all take a moment to walk around the hub? If you have any questions, feel free to ask me or another player. Oh, and I’ve already added myself as a contact for everyone, so you can shoot me a message if you get lost.” Cindy did a little twirl, winking at them. “Have fun, and enjoy Lively!”

The rest of the group dispersed. Prompto looked down at his hands, marveling at how thin and nimble his fingers looked compared to normal. When he’d heard about this game a few years ago he wasn’t convinced. A lot of companies were starting to make virtual reality games, but this was one of the first that was massively multiplayer. It seemed boring, really, just going to a city to have fun and party consequence-free. But the more he thought about it, the more he longed for it. And recently the company had put out a promotion; a free year membership if you bought the peripherals to enter the game world from home. 

“Need some advice on places to go, Sug?” Cindy asked, stepping closer to Prompto. 

“Ah… Oh… I mean…” If this had been real life Prompto was certain he’d be blushing. A beautiful woman like Cindy wouldn’t have given him a passing glance out there. 

Cindy offered a kind smile. “See that building there?” She pointed across the street. “All kindsa restaurants and stores in there to look at. You can buy clothes for your avatar. Maybe you should go take a look?”

Unsure what else he was going to do, Prompto nodded and made his way over. On the ground floor was a bookstore with a coffee shop attached. He paused just outside, looking in the window at all the people browsing books and ordering coffee. It was almost like real life, except that everyone looked a bit too gorgeous. His eyes scanned the coffee shop’s menu for a moment before moving down again. His heart nearly stopped.

Sitting in the window of the coffee shop was a young man reading and sipping coffee. His hair was jet black and stuck out at improbable angles like Prompto’s own. He had steele-grey eyes that scanned each page and didn’t move away as he picked up his coffee. 

Anywhere else, Prompto would have stared for a moment too long and then given up hope. There was no way someone like that would ever talk to him. But he glanced down at his avatar and its lithe frame. His weight didn’t have to be a barrier here. He could talk to anybody he wanted and they’d get to know him first, not see what he looked like and immediately turn him down. 

A moment later he was inside the coffee shop.

At first he thought of grabbing a book from one of the shelves and sitting beside the other man to try and catch his eye. But this quickly seemed like a bad idea as he noticed a group of girls were talking about his mark and hadn’t drawn his attention at all. Then he thought to buy him a coffee before realizing he had no idea what he was drinking. 

Finally, Prompto made his choice. He walked right up to the table and cleared his throat. 

The raven-haired boy flipped a page in his book, not looking up. 

“Excuse me..?” Prompto asked. 

Finally, he looked up. 

Those eyes were even more amazing up close. They were dark and bright all at the same time, looking Prompto up and down in a puzzled way. 

“Sorry… Am I in your seat or something?” the stranger asked. He snapped his fingers, flipping quickly through some menus to a map of the coffee shop. “... It doesn’t look like this table is reserved,” he murmured. 

“No! No, I’m not trying to kick you out of your seat,” Prompto insisted. The other dismissed the menu, offering a quizzical look. “I just… Wanted to talk to you.” Holding out a hand, he added, “I’m Prompto Argentum.”

Putting his book down, the stranger shook Prompto’s hand and motioned for him to sit. “Is that your username?” he asked. When Prompto gave him a confused look in return, he smiled and shook his head. “That must mean you’re still in the tutorial. It’s okay, I’m Noctis Caelum.”

“Noctis,” Prompto repeated, trying the name on. 

“So, why did you want to talk to me?”

That was a really good question. “It’s a game, right? A social game? So, you know, talk to people.” Not the best sentence he could have constructed, but he was honestly grateful he could speak at all.

Noctis looked amused. “And you chose the guy reading in a coffee shop by himself?”

This suddenly didn’t seem like such a great idea. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you, I just--”

“No, it’s okay,” Noctis interjected, shaking his head. “I don’t mind I’m just a little baffled. Most people make friends by going to the hotspots and stuff.” When Prompto gave him a guilty look, Noctis added, “But I like this. It’s very old school.”

“How did you know I was still in the tutorial?”

Noctis gave him a sly smile. “Cause I’m magic.” Prompto snorted out a laugh, Noctis chuckling in return before adding, “Naw, it’s because people usually start going by a pseudonym after they finish it. And because you just kinda wandered up to the first person who caught your attention. You know we don’t look like this in real life, right?”

Prompto swallowed, suddenly feeling foolish. “Well I… I definitely don’t look like…” He motioned down to himself. “Like this.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Noctis said. “Nobody does. I just wanna make sure you’re okay with talking to me. You didn’t think I was a girl, did you? Sometimes people think that when they see me from the back.” 

“No, I didn’t,” Prompto replied, looking confused. 

“And even if I was, I’m not that kind of girl,” Noctis continued, shrugging. 

Prompto was feeling even more out of the loop with every statement the other made. “Ah… What kind?”

“I mean I’m not here to cyber.” Prompto’s face clearly said he had no clue what Noctis meant. “... You know. Have virtual sex?”

“We only just started talking!” Prompto cried, gaping at him. 

Noctis snickered. “That doesn’t matter to some people. This is a state-of-the-art consequence-free world. You can do whatever you like, within reason, and for some people that means having sex with anyone and everyone from the moment they arrive.” He gave Prompto a searching look. “You… Really didn’t come over because you wanted to cyber?”

“No, I just wanted to make some friends!”

Laughing at the outburst, Noctis stood up. Prompto quickly followed suit, though he was still baffled. “Alright then. Friends. As your friend, then, I’m going to suggest we go upstairs to the mall. Your avatar’s looking a little… First-gen. You need some new clothes.”

First-gen, cyber… None of these words were making much sense to Prompto, but he didn’t argue as Noctis took his arm and led him up the stairs to the mall. There was an elevator they passed right by and at first Prompto was going to protest when he realized that the walking didn’t put much strain on his body. 

“Do you have to pay for the clothes?” Prompto asked, glancing around at the racks as they stepped inside. 

“Well, yeah, but with Gil. I mean, you can buy Gil with real money, but they give it out all the time so I’ve never seen the point.” Noctis was already looking at a vest covered in patches with a flannel section attached to the bottom. 

Prompto stepped closer, allowing Noctis to hold the piece up to his chest. “I don’t think I have any.”

“Are you playing at a cafe?” Noctis asked, debating the vest a moment before draping it over his arm and leading Prompto to a rack of tee shirts. 

“No, I’m playing at my house.”

“Woah…” Noctis turned to him with a grin. “Big money here. Okay, well if you bought the headset and attachments then you should have been given a fifty-thousand Gil balance. They looove throwing money at at-home users so you’ll buy more of their products.”

“That sounds great. But… How do I know how much I have?” 

Noctis rolled his eyes, snapping his fingers to bring his menu up. He pointed down in the bottom right corner of his screen. “There should be a number over here that says how much. If it’s less than fifty-thousand you’ll want to complain to someone.” 

Sure enough, Prompto had plenty of money to spare. Noctis even showed him the list of side quests and achievements he could complete to get even more free money, and showed that he’d already earned more just by editing his avatar and accepting Cindy’s friend request. 

When Noctis finished picking the outfit for him, he handed it over. “Alright, here. Change into this, I think it’s gonna look great.”

Prompto stood awkwardly in the middle of the store.

“... Oh right.” Noctis grinned. “I keep forgetting you’re still in tutorial. Here, you just open the menu and select them then…” 

After quite a bit of fighting with the menus Prompto was able to try on a few different outfits. Each time he put on some new clothes his menu wouldn’t close until he’d agreed to pay for them. Eventually, he went with the first outfit Noctis picked. It was very punk, with heavy boots and that vest covered in patches. He also added a bandana which he tied to his arm -- a bandana fit around his bicep, he couldn’t believe that -- and some gloves. 

Noctis let out a low whistle, walking a circle around him. “Well, well, lookin’ pretty good there, First-Gen.”

Prompto laughed, tugging at the vest a little. “Yeah, it’s not half bad. I’d never be able to pull this off in real life…”

“That’s not the point,” Noctis pointed out with a shrug. “You can do whatever you want here, and if you wanna dress like a punk princess you can.”

“H-hey, you’re the one who dressed me like this!” 

“Yeah, and you look great.” Noctis brought up his menu for a second before quickly closing it. At the quizzical look Prompto gave him, he offered a sheepish smile. “Just checking the time. It’s easy to lose track here. Oh, that reminds me. Where are you staying?”

“Staying? I mean, I’m at my house…”

Noctis snorted. “No, I mean here, in Lively. You can buy a house or rent an apartment.”

Prompto blinked. “What, for real?”

“Yeah. It’s way easy, too, you don’t bother with landlords or anything and you can edit it to your liking.”

“Do… You have a place?” 

Rolling his eyes, Noctis replied, “Duh. You wanna see it? It’ll be a bit of a trek for you, you can’t fast travel anywhere until you’ve been there and added it to your favorites so we’ll have to drive.”

“You want me to come to your place..?”

“Don’t get your hopes up, dude, I already told you I’m not that kinda girl.” Prompto opened his mouth to argue but Noctis just grinned. Right, he was teasing. “So? Do you want to see?” Prompto nodded. “Great. C’mon, we’ll take my car.”

Cars in Lively weren’t like cars in the real world. You didn’t have to park them; as soon as you arrived at your destination they disappeared and when you needed them again you just pulled your menu up. You didn’t even have to fill their tanks, though there were gas stations if you wanted to meet up with people or get snacks. 

Noctis’s car was a sleek black beauty with a gold decal along the sides and hood. The moment they started driving the top folded off and Prompto marveled as wind began tousling his virtual hair. 

“Feels real, right?” Noctis asked with a smile.

“Yeah! I mean, I’ve never been in a convertible before but this wind feels real.” 

“It’s how everything is here. It can be hard to leave once you’re in, and adjusting takes some time. Since you have the home version I’m guessing that means you got a neural implant?” 

Prompto reached for the back of his neck where the implant had gone in. In real life there was a bandage over that place, still. “Ah… Yeah. I had to get it installed when they dropped off the equipment.”

Noctis smiled. “I take it you don’t play VR games much?”

“Not really. I mean, I’ve played a few at the cafes when my friends insist. Mostly adventure type games.” He glanced at Noctis. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s just that… If you get the neural implant it makes things so much more real,” Noctis admitted. “It’s not just this game. If you don’t have it you can’t feel stuff like the wind or the sand on the beach or the water. Ah, be careful when you go swimming, by the way, you may accidentally pee yourself in the real world.”

“What?!” Prompto gasped, but Noctis was laughing again. “You know, you really could tell me anything about this place and I’d believe you.”

Noctis was snickering still. “Oh, I can tell. But I wasn’t lying about the implant. It’s great that you got it.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “It’ll make things so much better when I finally do let you cyber with me.”

Prompto choked out something unintelligible. 

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop. But tell me something. I know you didn’t talk to me because you wanted to have sex, but… Would you want to? Just on the basis of me being a guy.” He paused, adding, “I’m asking if you’re gay.”

“Is it… Bad if I am?” Prompto asked, hesitantly. 

“No,” Noctis quickly replied. “Because I am. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”

Prompto let out a small sigh of relief. “I’m… Bi, actually,” he said. “But I did want to talk to you because I thought you were cute.” 

Noctis smiled. “My avatar is cute,” he pointed out. “I don’t know how you’ll feel if you ever see me.”

“Yeah, that’s… How I feel, too.”

Noctis glanced over at Prompto. “I mean, that doesn’t matter to me. Not really.”

Prompto couldn’t help thinking that Noctis wouldn’t be saying that if he’d met him. “Well either way… I wanted to get to know you. I didn’t just want to… You know.”

“Wham, bam, thank you ma’am?” Noctis offered.

“Yeah. Not that.”

“Well good news for you, I’m happy to get to know you, too.”

It was dark out by the time they arrived at Noctis’s home. It was huge and lavish with wide windows that looked out onto the ocean a few miles away. Inside there were framed certificates displayed on one of the walls taking up a vast amount of space. There were all kinds of other items around the house from musical instruments to weapons to paintings. One thing Prompto didn’t see was a television. Then again, they were playing a video game, what was the point in sitting down to watch tv? 

“What do you think?” Noctis asked, motioning around the house.

“It’s amazing. What are all these?” Prompto walked to the wall, looking at one of the frames.

Noctis followed him, pulling one down. “Achievements. If you do certain things in the game you get these. They’re in your menu until you choose to pull them out, and you can put them away at any time.”

“Performed a backflip off Central Tower?” Prompto gaped at the frame.

“Oh, yeah. You can’t really get hurt here so you can do anything. For a while I was a daredevil, doing all kinds of crazy things like swimming as far as I could in one play session and running as far as I could…” 

“Why?” Prompto looked over each achievement in awe.

Noctis shrugged. “Just… Stuff you can’t do in real life, right? Swimming for twelve hours straight or running a thousand miles at once… Seemed fun to try.”

Prompto paused at one of the achievements, eyeing it. Earn one hundred million Gil. “How long have you been playing?”

Following him and eyeing up the achievement, Noctis gave Prompto a smile. “Active User, four years. But I was a beta tester, so technically I’ve been playing for five years.”

“How often… Do you play?”

“Active User means you log in at least once a day,” Noctis replied, shrugging. 

Prompto was floored. “Every day… For five years? Really?”

“Sounds pretty crazy, I know.”

“How do you have the time?” Prompto asked, furrowing his brow.

Noctis chuckled, shaking his head. “I have a very tight schedule.” He glanced at the clock in his menu again. “Speaking of which… It’s almost time for me to leave.”

Curious, Prompto brought up his own menu. 8:57 PM. “You leave at nine?”

“Every day. But I’ll be back, promise.” Noctis opened his menu again, flipping through to his items and making a gesture. Then he flipped a key into Prompto’s hands. “Here. It’s against the rules to steal anything, you actually can’t do it, so I’m gonna give you the key to my house.” He gave Prompto a smile. “And I just sent you a friend request. Now that you’ve been here you can fast travel here when you log back in.”

“When will you be back?” Prompto asked, suddenly worried. 

“Sooner than you think.” 8:59 PM. “Trust me, if you’re online during the day, I’ll be here.”

Prompto bit his lip. “I have work on Monday. I mean, I can be here tomorrow but Monday…”

Noctis smiled sweetly. “It’s okay, really. Meet me back here tomorrow whenever you log in. I’ll wait for you.” He raised a hand, giving Prompto a little wave before he disappeared.


End file.
